On-site industrial wastewater treatment provider Axine Water Technologies announced the completion of a long-term test program to validate its electrochemical oxidation technology for treating active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in wastewater. The test program confirmed Axine’s electrochemical oxidation technology is capable of treating a range of APIs to low levels to meet targets for safe discharge to the environment.
Axine’s technology applies electricity to advanced electrodes to oxidize and destroy all types of APIs without using hazardous chemicals and without generating liquid or solid waste.
The test program was conducted on a range of APIs including antibiotics, antimicrobials, chemotherapy medicines, pain relievers and other APIs commonly found in pharmaceutical manufacturing wastewater streams. Tests were conducted on individual APIs, as well as blends of multiple APIs at different concentrations and background chemistries. The molecular weights of APIs tested ranged from less than 150 g/mol to greater than 800 g/mol.
In all cases, the results show that Axine’s technology treated APIs to below site requirements, below Predicted No-Effect Concentration (PNEC) values and/or below analytical detection limits, some as low as <0.005 ppb. Testing and analysis were conducted at Axine’s product development facility in Vancouver, Canada and at customer sites.
